WP on Safari
Western Province are taking a young team to Kenya and Namibia to play the national teams of those countries as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers which start at the end of the month. The matches are funded by the International Rugby Board.
Kenya were to have played Portugal on Saturday but when the Portuguese pulled out, apparently because of secularity concerns, Western Province were invited and flew to Nairobi via Johannesburg on Wednesday night, arriving on Thursday morning. New Saturday they will play Namibia in Windhoek.
Kenya, who are coached by Jerome Paarwater, and Namibia are preparing for the Conference of Africa Rugby's quadrangular tournament to be played in Madagascar. The other two participants are Zimbabwe and hosts Madagascar. The winner will take the Africa Cup and will go into the 2015. The team coming second goes into répechage for a further chance to go to the World Cup. In répechage the African team will play Russia as part of the qualifying process.
No.8 Rayn Smid will captain the Western Province team which includes eight players who each have some Super Rugby experience – Michael van der Spuy, Devon Williams, Gary van Aswegen, Dylon Frylinck, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Jean Kleyn, Stephan Coetzee and Sti Sithole.
Two of those chosen were at school in the last two years when they played for SA Schools, and are still eligible to play age-group rugby – attacking fullback EW Viljoen of Grey College and imposing flyhalf Robert du Preez of Kearsney. They are both in the starting team against Kenya. Neil Rautenbach, Digby Webb, Lungelo Chonco, Ian Groenewald, Jan Uys, Freddie Muller and Craig Barry all played in Varsity Cup this year.
The Province team will be coached by Vodacom Cup and Under-21 coach John Dobson and his assistants Dawie Snyman and Labeeb Levy. Dobson said: “This really is an exciting opportunity for us, as coaches, and the players to take the Western Province Rugby brand into a country like Kenya.
“We realise that it’s a massive honour and we are heading to Nairobi with the main purpose of winning this match. However, I also want the players to learn a bit about the country they are visiting and I have told them to take it all in and enjoy the opportunity.”
On the team selected for the trip, Dobson said: “This is a young team,. If I am not mistaken the oldest player is 24 years old.
“The backline has plenty of pace and skill, but we're particularly excited about EW Viljoen and Robert du Preez – both of whom are young men with bright futures here at Western Province Rugby.
“It’s been great to see young forwards like Sti, Stephan, Jean and Notshe take the step up to Super Rugby this year and we will be relying on them to give us a good platform up front to allow our exciting backs some space to move.”
Gert Smal, the Western Province director of rugby said: “This is a great opportunity for us to keep some of our players busy during the enforced June international break.
“Our depth has been severely tested during the 2014 Super Rugby tournament and this is another opportunity for us to have a look at the talent we have our disposal in the union.
“Players like Stephan Coetzee, Jean Kleyn, Dylon Frylinck and Devon Williams have all contributed to the Stormers in recent weeks, but they will also benefit from some valuable game time over the next two weeks.
“We will be taking competitive teams to Kenya and Namibia, but, at the same time, we will also be able to blood some young talent and see how those players perform in different conditions away from home.”
The match will be played at the EARFU Ground in Nairobi.
Team
Western Province: 15. EW Viljoen, 14. Chevandré van Schoor, 13. Pat Howard, 12. Michael van der Spuy, 11. Devon Williams, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Dylon Frylinck, 8. Rayn Smid (captain), 7. Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6. Lungelo Chonco, 5. Jean Kleyn, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 3. Justin Ackerman, 2. Stephan Coetzee, 1. Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16. Neil Rautenbach, 17. Digby Webb, 18. Ian Groenewald, 19. Carel du Preez, 20. Jan Uys, 21. Freddie Muller, 22. Gary van Aswegen, 23. Craig Barry
